Process of making wrought-iron



(No Model.)

W. PRICE.

PROCESS 0F MAKING WROUGHT RoN.

No. 323.365. Patented July 28, 1885.

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TILLIAJI PRICE, 0F MCKEESPORT, PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF MAKING WROUGHTIRON- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 323,365, dated July 28, 1885,

Application led November 26, 1883.

To all whom.` it may concern.-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM Paten, of Mc- Keesport, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Processes ot Mal;- ing Wroughtlron; and I do hereby declare the following to be a. full, clear, and exact description thereof..

My invention relates to the treatment ot' pig metal in the reduction from the crude pig to blooms, from which the finished ivi ought metal is formed; and theinvention relates especially to the treatment ot' metal in the reA tineryturnaee preparatory to the treatment by paddling or in the linobblingtire or forge.

Heretot'ore, in reiining the crude metal, or pig metal,77 as it is usually termed, it was general ly placed in the reneryfurnaee and melted by means ot' heat generated by the blast and coke, and treated by means ot' cinder, to cause the thorough relining of the metal. lt- Was then rnn out in the casting-bed and rapidly cooled, the einder and refined metal being run out together, and after the cooling of the charge the cinder being broken and sepa rated from the top ofthe metal, which, on account, oi' its gravity, sank below the cinder, and was thus easily sepa ated therefrom. In some eases the pig metal was melted in a suitable blast-furnace and run into the refinery-furnace in a tlnid state, to be afterward treated in the same manner as the metal melted in the refinery-furnace, and the cinder and rened metal, While in a molten Vliuid state, have also been tapped separately and the metal run into a pnddliiig-furnace5 but in this case the operation oi' the reiinery-furnace was delayed, the molten pig metal chilled., and the expense of operation increased by the introduction and melting of the cold cinder fed thereto for the treatment ofthe next charge.

The object of my invention is to so improve the treatment of the crude metal in thereiinery-furnace as to expedite its operations and lessen the cest thereof; and it consists, es sentially, in treating the charge ot' pig metal and cinder in the relinery-iurnace, and after coming to nature, when in a molten condition, tapping oit the einder, conducting the molten reiined metal to the furnace or forge `for fur ther treatment, and then introducing the molten cinder so removed and molten crude (No model.)

metal into the reiineryt'urnace for the next charge, the time and cost of melting the cinder and crude metal in the refinery being thus saved, and the operation ot' the refinery being greatly expedited.

To enable others skilled in the art to carry on my invention, I will describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure l is a longitudinal section illustrating the ineltingfurnace and retinery-furnace and a forge or knobbling-furnace suitable for carrying out my invention. Fig. 2 is a hori- Zontal section on the line .fr :r of the meltingfurnace, reiiuery-furnaee, one 'ibrge-ire, and two p'uddling-furnaces suitable for carrying on my invention. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line y y, Fig. l, and Fig. 4 is a longitudi nal section ot the same plate.

As shown in the drawings, in carrying out my invention, in order to facilitate the process, I employ a suitable inciting-furnace, A. This melting-furnace may either be ablast-t'urnace or reverberatory furnace suitable for the purpose, the one illustrated in the drawings being an ordinary gas-furnace ot' size sutiieient to melt the required charge, It is provided with the gas and air ports at each end, with the bed a., door d", and on the side opposite the door the tap-hole b,leading into the trough il', by means of which the melted metal in the furnace is conducted to the refinery-furnace C. This furnaceis usually of the ordinary con` struction, except in the particulars hereinafter described, having the chimney c, the Water-blocks d around three sides thereof', the tnyere-plates d', and the tu yeres or blastpipes c on each side, the ends oi" the blast pipes being protected by suitable water'tuyeres, c', and the blast ot air being thus directed down on the hearth E of the furnace.

rlhe number of blast-pipes employed in the furnace varies according to the capacity of the refinery, those preferred by me having about four blast-pipes on each side.

At the front of the furnace is the dam-plate f, this dam-plate being provided with the taphole g in the base thereof, by means ot which the entire charge of refined metal is Withdrawn from the hearth, and with the supplemental tapAhole le, which is placed to one side ot' the l tap-hole g and higher up in the plate. This IOC upper tap-hole, 71 leads to the trough 7c, which communicates at its end with a suitable cinderreceptacle, that preferred by me being a buggy, l, into which the cinder tapped from the refinery is directed, so that as soon as the refined metal is removed from the refinery this melted cinder may be again introduced on the hearth of the refinery from the buggy, and thus save the time necessary to melt the cinder before the next charge of crude melted pig is introduced or run into the refinery.

The tap-hole g, instead of communicating with the casting-bed, as in the ordinary refinery, communicates with a suitable trough, fm, which leads directly or by branch troughs n n either to the puddling-furnace or knobbling-res, according to subsequent treatment to which the metal is to be subjected.

The dam-plate is provided with suitable water-pipes, p, circulating through it, in order to prevent its rapid burning out, the pipes being arranged to run close to or around the tapping-holes ofthe dam-plate, so that they may be thus prevented from burning out during the tapping of the cinder or refined metal, or by the heat of the refinery-fire.

The plate may be made in the form of a hollow water-box; but under the intense heat and the changes of temperature in tapping through the plate it is found liable to crack or break, and the difficulties are overcome hy the employment of these water-pipes.

The refinery is provided with suitable doors or shields to hold the heat therein and protcct the workmen operating the furnace.

The construction of the forge or knobblin g iire employed is the same as the ordinary forgev now in use, except that means are provided for conducting the molten refined metal to the hearth, as is also the case with the puddlin gfurnaces, and these need not be further described.

In carrying on my invention the metal is first melted in the blast or reverberatory furnace, and before commencing the heat a certain portion of the cinder and coke is placed in the hearth of the refinery and melted under the, blast, the proportion of cinder employed being about thirtyfive pounds to one hundred pounds of crude metal. The molten crude metal is then conducted through the trough b to the refinery and a suitable amount of coke fed thereto, and the melted metal is then subjected to the action of the blast and heated cinder, all the impurities usually removed by this process being taken up by the cinder or carried off' by the flame, and the metal being thoroughly rened. As in the usual process in the refinery, the treatment of the metal thus run in reqnires generally about one-half' hour, and as soon as the metal comes to nature, on checking the blast slightly, the cinder iioats to the surface thereof', and the operator taps the cinder from the surface of' the refined metal through the tap-hole h, conducting it through the trough k into the buggy or other receptaing to the circumstances, is then run from the buggy into the hearth of the furnace, and the crude metal tapped from the furnace A into the refinery, and the operation of refining continued, as above described, so that the process may be continued from the melting-furnace to the refinery, and thence to the forge or puddling-furnaces without the cooling of the metal. By introducing this molten cinder into the refinery-furnace for the next charge the refining of this charge may be proceeded with without waitin g for the melting of the cinder-a difficulty always experienced in running the crude metal into the refinery. The cinder obtained in this manner may be employed from two to three times, and greatly expedites the operation of refining and saves a large amount of fuel.

By means of my invention I am enabled, on account of the employment of molten cinder, to expedite the treatment of crude metal run into the refinery, so that one charge may be treated in the refinery on an average every one-half or three-quarters of an hour, instead of every hour and a half or two hours, as was heretofore done.

Before my invention forges for the manufacture of bars have been arranged with a hearth having no tap-hole, the pig metal being worked in the hearth under a bath of cinder to protect it, the metal being balled and worked under the cinder and then removed for forging, and the cinder remaining in the hearth being employed with the next charge. This process differs entirely from my process, and the hearth described could be employed in carrying it out, as instead of merely melting and balling the metal itis submitted to avery high heat to purify and refine it while in a molten condition, and instead of the cinder remaining in the hearth the entire charge is necessarily run oft' from the hearth to separate the cinder and the refined and purified metal while in a molten condition, and the molten cinder so run ofi' is reintroduced with the next charge to be refined.

In the manufacture of steel, slag from previous meltings in a reverberatory furnace has also been introduced into the furnace; but, so far as I am aware, no slag has been tapped from a furnace or hearth while in a molten condition before cooling, reintroduced for the treatment of the next charge.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The process of reining iron and utilizing IOO IIO

the heat ot' molten slag, which consists in subA In testimony whereof the said WILLIAM jecting a chargeof molten pig meta-1, coke, I and cinder to Jthe action of an air-blast, ta-ppng oft'thc molten refined iron and the cin- 5 der, and subsequently introducing the molten 1 Witnesses cinder and :L fresh charge of crude metal, and JAMES I. KAY, continuing the refning process, as described. J. N. COOKE.

PRCE, have here-unto set my hond.

WILLIAM PRICE. 

